The Importance Of, Part 2

Come to find out the fine folks at DrupalCamp Austin 2013 recently posted videos of all the conference sessions, so I figured that I would archive my keynote here. Now with 23% fewer “um”s.

I had a great time doing my “Phil Donahue impression” and interacting with the audience, and hopefully my mix of personal stories, industry insights and history of SXSW.com helped to inspire. In any case, my takeaways are listed below (if watching an hour and six minute long video is not your thing).

THE IMPORTANCE OF…

BEING GRATEFUL
Taking the big picture view of technology and its rapid evolution can help give you perspective. Never take for granted the power you have to create, share ideas and transform the world around you.

ARCHIVING YOUR WORK
Hardware, platforms and formats come and go. Respect yourself and your work by archiving it as best you can.

A PERSONAL SITE
Control your online identity before someone else does. Own your own content and support the indie web.

A PASSION PROJECT
You’ll learn more doing something you love than anything else.

KNOWING MORE THAN ONE PLATFORM
Being a generalist helps you develop unique and innovative solutions to problems.

TAKING RISKS
An oldie, but goodie. You’ve got to take the leap to get the reward.

ASKING FOR HELP
You show true strength in admitting you don’t know everything. Make yourself vulnerable to others.

COMMUNITY
Share your ideas and development process with as many as possible. Let them contribute. A solid feedback loop is vital to your success.

EMBRACING ACCIDENTS
You’ll learn much more from the unexpected.

NOT ASKING PERMISSION
Sometimes you just have to build the solution and ask for forgiveness.